Remi: Are you looking at what I am looking at?

  The creature in front of Remi stood roughly six feet tall, its form only vaguely human. Its body was flame contained within a lattice of molten veins. It was smoking, but not in the I’m-going-to-sneak-off-and-be-cool-with-my-friends kind of way. More like the I’m-a-fire-started-in-your-house-and-I’m-about-to-burn-all-your-shit kind of way.

  Nel: My dude! You know I can’t see through your eyes.

  He could almost hear her clipped yet amused tone.

  Remi: Right. I just thought with your HUD control—

  Before he could finish thinking and typing his response, she was already responding.

  Nel: HUD access doesn’t mean I’m omnipotent, Remi. I can track your vitals, see some pathing nodes, but I don’t live inside your brain hole. You’ll have to describe what you’re seeing if you want me to line it up.

  Remi: I’m looking at a Firebrand; do you have one? It’s like a torch with feet.

  Nel: Not yet, I’m clear for now. And stop joking. I know it eases your tension…

  Her typing paused for a brief moment, but long enough to be felt.

  Nel: …But it amps up mine.

  Remi: Sorry. Can you tell me anything about it? My inspect was pretty limited.

  Nel: “Likely, but I will need a sec.”

  While he waited for her response, the Firebrand took a heavy step forward; embers ricocheted into the air. His safe area was narrowing by the second.

  Remi: Nel?

  His time was up; he didn't have time to wait as the Firebrand opened its mouth in a wordless howl. It dropped its head slightly and charged at Remi. A wave of heat blasted his front as the momentum of the creature rushed towards him. It was like all the heat in the maze was funneled right at him. Remi’s eyes watered.

  He blinked. The Firebrand was on him, closing half the distance between them in a single rush. He needed a weapon that worked, and right now he was holding kindling. The tooltip told him he could not bludgeon his way through this one.

  “Shit.” Remi focused on the stick’s edge, thinking about it not as a blunt line but a sharp edge. He cast Margin Write, and as his inkwell plummeted to 10% he saw the wooden edge of the stick almost flake. The runes along its length glowed in the light of the thin line that shimmered to life along its edge. Not wood anymore; a razor-thin blade of amber light rewritten stick to sword.

  It will cut! He thought to himself in the voice of Doug Marcaida. Forged in fire? Let’s find out!

  Remi stepped forward to meet the Firebrand as it finished closing the distance. His sideways slash cut through the air with a whistle. The creature, seeing the blow, tried to slow, but halted just within the blade’s reach. The tip sliced through flame, carving a molten white line across its chest before the wound was swallowed back into the fire.

  It screamed—a sound like a blacksmith’s bellows blasting coals to life.

  He had pissed it off! Nel's message flashed across his HUD.

  Nel: It has a tell. It does a shoulder-flare before it attacks. I’m working on the weakness.

  Remi could almost hear her typing in his mind, rapid keystrokes swallowed by the hiss of fire. He didn't have time to consider what the hell a shoulder-flare was before the pissed-off Firebrand resumed its forward movement. Sure enough, just as Nel had flagged, rents of molten light burst from its shoulders just before it swung.

  The half-second cue was enough. Remi leaned backwards as its clawed hand swung by him, passing inches from his chest. He could feel his skin blister underneath his vest, and as he reflexively looked down, he could see Bea’s scarf had shifted to a giant exclamation point. His health dropped by 12 HP and his status updated:

  [STATUS: Crispy like a Marshmallow]

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  [AI]: Burn-adette is wondering if you too will taste like hint o’ mint.

  As the moment carried it around, he took the chance to get to the open side of the corridor. The firewall might move slowly, but he couldn’t get trapped between it and the monster. Walls of fire rippled on three sides, their heat tugging at his flesh like an open oven door. The corridor felt narrower and more oppressive with every heartbeat, a furnace throat swallowing him whole.

  Remi dove. His body in a low tuck, his cloak trailing spun up ash and ember as he rolled past the Firebrand’s flank. He came up behind it and spun using the turn to propel his blade in a savage arc. This time it sank deep into the creature’s back. It raked along one of the molten lattice lines; a trail of sparks erupted like arterial spray from the slash. The Firebrand howled again as its health dropped to 80%. It staggered, then twisted, black coal sockets locked onto him once more.

  Nel: I’m still here. Still working on it. Being swarmed by fireflies. Doing my best to multi-task. Don’t flame out before I crack this.

  Remi could see the sparks spill from its back like blood; a curtain that hissed as it struck the ash floor. The wound didn’t slow it. The lattice warped around the rend, flame pushing through gaps like molten muscle until in knit itself closed.

  Remi: Really? I can’t joke, but you can.

  Nel: An acceptable double standard.

  Enraged, the Firebrand pivoted violently, and slammed both hands into the ground. The floor under Remi’s feet trembled. A mini-earthquake that caused blazing cracks to open in a ten-foot fan. Steam leaped from the ground as heat ruptured from the gaps. His agility made him fast, but not that fast. He stumbled backwards, and while the brunt of the fire missed his body, he could feel the splash of heat rocket up his body. His life ticked down another notch, leaving him at three-quarter health.

  He wasn't sure why the area of effect damage came as such a surprise; it was a fire monster, but it did. His chest hitched with every breath, lungs raw with each gasp. He could feel an echo of panic stir beneath the pain. Remi backed down the corridor, keeping the open path behind him, and his meter-stick angled low and defensively.

  Remi: Nel?

  The Firebrand lumbered towards him, moving closer as its furnace-face flared. Again, like Nel had warned, its shoulders again burst outwards in a flare.

  Nel: Instability confirmed. Don’t chip it down. You’ve got to rupture its cracks. Aim for the veins when they flare.

  As the jet from the shoulder finished, the lattice on its body turned white hot. Remi didn't wait; he moved in and delivered a backhand slash. Targeting the veiny web on its chest. The strike landed cleanly across the glowing cracks of its torso. The Firebrand reeled in response as the molten lines grew wider and more sparks shot forth like blood.

  Nel: That is it! Do that! Target when it flares. I am trying to trace the fire’s pattern. Hope to predict the maze path.

  The response from the monster was a snarling furnace roar, as it lunged forward, two clawed hands outstretched to grasp Remi. It was a choking move that would have devastating consequences if it landed.

  “How about no,” he said, extending his left hand. The corridor’s throat had kept closing, so the wall behind had continued its slow movement forward, until now it was just a few feet behind the Firebrand. He knew it likely wouldn’t hurt it, but maybe fire could consume fire. The Mana Pulse shot from his hand. The concussive burst of raw mana slammed into the Firebrand. Its forward movement stopped, stuttered, and then reversed as it was lifted from its feet. The force shoved it backward, into the hungry wall that waited behind.

  For an instant, it resisted. They were two defined shapes: the wall and the Firebrand. But then the wall seemed to reach forward, like a mother hugging her child, clutching it into an embrace. The flame creature wrapped itself into the wall, melting into it like liquid glass. The lines of the ember-lattice were the last to disappear. They sank like a pattern pressed into hot glass; the lines floated on the surface of the firewall before they too unraveled in a swirling pool of light.

  The corridor heaved once and then steadied. Cool. Remi wouldn’t hang around and see what would happen next; he spun on his heel and sprinted down the open corridor. He needed to make it to the end before he could turn ninety degrees to the left and make his way to the key. He wished his mini-map showed more, but other than the fiery inverted L, the key marker rested in a void. As he ran, he updated his partner.

  Remi: Mine is back in the wall. I think it's gone. You?

  Her response was not comforting.

  Nel: It isn’t gone. Remi, it’s beside you.

  Without further warning, a charred arm jutted out from the firewall running parallel to him, and glowing white-hot claws raked across the narrow pathway to swipe Remi across his torso. Unlike regular fire you could pass through, the arm was more solid. So the arm slammed into him with the combined force of the swing and Remi’s own forward momentum. It staggered him. Sending him sprawling backwards to the ground.

  Pain lanced through his core. The arm paused and then retracted back into the firewall as quickly as it had struck. It was using the wall to hide where it was. He was in trouble. He could feel it lurking, ready to pounce again.

  Remi: Fuck Nel, it nailed me hard. How do I fight it, I can’t see it?

  The message ping came as a relief. But it wasn’t Nel who responded.

  [AI]: “It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed…It’s fine work. Monday burn Millay, Wednesday Whitman, Friday Faulkner.” Today we set the Page aflame.

  Remi: You can cram your Bradbury. I’m not paper, Archie. I don’t burn that easily!

  The message ping came again, but finally it was Nel.

  Nel: Sorry. Fighting the bug swarm. I can’t win with brute force. Trying to parse code, but it's slippery. Yours, not so much. If it's phasing into the wall, it will have a pattern tied to the wall. Watch for a flare; it should spike before it strikes.

  Remi: OK. Watch for the sparkly, like a magpie. Got it.

  He resumed his sprint, but more cautiously, watching for any sign of attack. It came faster that he thought, but this time from the other side. The firewall on his left ripped, glowing slightly brighter with a sudden flare. Remi clocked the tell, and as the arm burst forth again, once more attempting a fiery clothesline, he could duck underneath it as he raced forward. As he sprinted past, he could see a light image of the Firebrand inside the firewall, as it turned to keep up with him.

  The turn was about fifty feet ahead of him now. He knew the door was just behind the wall in front of him. The only logical assumption was that there was a corridor that ran behind it. Remi was going to need to retrieve the key and race back to basically this same spot to escape the maze.

  There was no way he would make it there, pursued by this thing. Remi slowed to a jog, and watched like a magpie, hoping to spot the sparkle. He wouldn’t duck this time. He was rewarded after a few steps. As he hoped, the Firebrand had rushed ahead, hoping to again attack as Remi ran past. But as the arm lashed out, he planted both feet instead. The arm came out of the wall lower. Likely so it would be difficult to dodge, but in this situation it was exposed.

  Remi brought his meter-blade down in a double overhand chop, aimed at the molten limb, and directly targeting the veins. He had always been good at following instructions. The blade bit clean into the lattice, passing through it, the fire, and the lattice on the other side. Sparks exploded outward. He could see the Firebrand within the wall convulse; a furnace howl rang through the corridor. It was visibly staggered.

  He staggered too; breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. His arms felt heavier than they should, and that last swing felt like he had twisted something in his ribs. Losing 25% health wasn’t just a number — it gnawed at him. The jokes inside Remi dried up. The Firebrand wasn’t the only thing getting chopped down.

  Remi should run while it was phased. He knew that, yet he still couldn’t stop himself from poking the System, and while he was good with instructions, he wasn’t great with impulse control.

  Remi: Bet you didn’t know I could be this disarming, did you?

  [AI]: We’ll see… As you may have read. “It is a pleasure to burn.”

  The Firebrand seemed to glow brighter. Its lattice lines widened, the glow morphed into streaks—lantern light that leaked through the slats of an outhouse. It turned to face Remi. Obviously, it didn’t like his joke. And like that outhouse, Remi felt he was about to be in deep shit.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE]

  Warning: Increased Instability

  Remi: Tattletale!

  [AI]: Who tosses gasoline on a fire?